successfully attempted toenter the doors of the school. Black Civil Rights leaders pressured PresidentEisenhower to send federal troops to protect the rights of the students. As severalpresidents before him, he told the leaders that progress on the matter must comeslowly. After conferring with governor Faubus, President Eisenhower had no choicebut to act. Eisenhower urge Faubus to allow the students to enter the school. Whenthousands gathered to prevent the students from entering the school, Eisenhower againattempted to speak with the governor. Rather than relenting, the governor left the stateon a "business trip". Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National guard and sent inone thousand paratroopers from the 101st Airborne platoon to protect the nine Blackstudents. For the first time since Reconstruction, U.S. military forces were sent to astate to assist Blacks and restore order. Many school districts throughout the South simply closed their doors ratherthan integrate. The results of the Supreme court ruling were not enacted until fourteenyears later. Several state legislatures did everything they could to preventdesegregation of their schools. One tactic used by legislatures was to pass numerouslaws to side step the court's decision. Each of their laws would then have to bechallenged in court. Another tactic used was the passage of laws requiring disclosureof NAACP membership. Once obtained, pressure was applied to employers to fireNAACP members. The ruling that came down in the Brown vs. Board of Ed. case was one thatwould change race relations in the United States forver. This ruling was a majorsteping stone for the civil rights movement and was something that they were workingfor for so long. But this case also showed that people and politicians would doeverything they could to keep races seperate and as much as they said the opposite notequal....
